Navistar RV sold, eliminating over 500 jobs in Wakarusa

WAKARUSA, Ind. -- An RV production plant that employs hundreds of people in Wakarusa is pulling out of town. Navistar sold its headquarters to a company based out of Florida, Allied Specialty Vehicles.

Hundreds of people walked into work Thursday morning only to learn they will be out of a job in a matter of months. Navistar’s Wakarusa location is closing shop and moving 105 miles south to Decatur.

ASV bought Monaco from Navistar and says that staying in Wakarusa just would not be a smart business decision. "It’s a world class factory but its far too large for the size of the business today." explained ASV COO Jim Meyer.

The company says the building will be closed by August. Meyer says what happens to the hundreds of soon jobless employees all depends on if they can sell the building in Wakarusa. "Assuming we are successful with that, which we feel pretty good about, there will be someone else coming in and then there will be jobs associated with that."

The company says they are going to try to make this transition as smooth as possible.